Last Updated April 2019
Most of these publishers are interested in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Some publish just one of these genres. Others publish many genres and types of books, science fiction and fantasy just being one genre among many.
Some are small companies, others are imprints of major publishing houses. They are not listed in any particular order. Not all of them may be currently open to submissions. It is important to note that all of them meet the standards outlined in our guiding principles.
All of the publishers are only briefly described on this page, however if you click on the link you will reach our full review of them. The review includes submission information and links to their websites.
DAW
DAW is an imprint of Penguin. They publish science fiction and fantasy books. Read the full review here.
Angry Robot
Angry Robot is a respected science fiction and fantasy publisher that occasionally dips into related genres (such as urban fantasy, steampunk, and horror). Angry Robot was originally funded by HarperCollins. They are now part of Watkins Media Ltd. They offer advances and good royalty rates. The contract they offer covers print, e-book, and audio book rights. They have one or two open reading periods a year. You can read our full review here.
BelleBooks/BelleBridge
BelleBooks/BelleBridge is a respected independent publisher. They publish science fiction and fantasy books along with a wide variety of other genres. Read the full review here.
Edge
Edge is an established and well respected Canadian publisher of Science Fiction and Fantasy. They have great distribution within Canada, and good distribution within North America. They are open to authors regardless of nationality. To learn more, read the full review here.
Jo Fletcher Books
Jo Fletcher Books is an imprint of Quercus Publishing, the only imprint that accepts unsolicited submissions. Jo Fletcher Books publishes science fiction, fantasy, and horror books for adults. They are not interested in children’s or young adult books, or in short story collections or novellas. Read our full review here.
The Parliament House
The Parliament House is a small eBook and print press started in 2016. They specialize in fantasy, including paranormal, contemporary, and urban. Their website is well designed and the covers are well designed and market appropriate. They seem active on social media and more focused on recruiting readers than writers. Read our full review here.
Baen
Baen is one of the best known publishers of science fiction and fantasy novels. They are very well regarded. To learn more, read our full review here.
Tor
Tor/Forge publishes science fiction and fantasy books. They are run by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC. Tor/Forge is an imprint of Macmillan, one of the big five publishers. Tor is one of the most established science fiction publishers a. Read our review here.
Ghostwoods Books
Ghostwoods Books is a small publisher that has been around for eight years now. They publish books in paperback and e-book editions. They publish sci-fi, fantasy, speculative fiction and non-gore horror novels for adults. Read our full review here.
Tartarus Press
Tartarus Press is a small British publisher that opened in the 1990s. They specialize in publishing literary supernatural/strange/horror fiction. They are best known for their limited edition hardbacks with distinctive cream covers. They also publish paper backs and eBooks. The press has won 5 World Fantasy Awards and 1 Stoker Award for horror. Read our full review here.
Quirk Books
This Philadelphia-based press publishes just 25 books a year in a whole range of genres, including children’s books, nonfiction, and science fiction. Unlike most publishers who tackle a large range of topics, Quirk Books has a clear marketing plan and to a certain degree their books have a cohesive feel, because they all are quirky. Read our full review here.
Diversion Books
Diversion Books was started by Scott Waxman of Waxman Literary Agency. He said that it started as an experiment of sorts to publish books that the agency represented that they had a hard time finding “Big 5” publishers to accept. That was seen as conflict of interest, and writers were initially very leery. However, after eight years they seem to be doing a good job. Read our full review here.
Parvus Press
Parvus Press is a new digital first publisher of science fiction and fantasy novels. They have been around for over two years now, and they offer advances. Read our full review here.
Twelfth Planet Press
Twelfth Planet Press is a small electronic press focusing primarily on publishing novellas by women and other marginalized writers in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and more recently, crime. They particularly hope to publish Australian writers but they have no geographic limits on their current submission call. They really want to publish underrepresented voices. They appear to always offer advances, which is unusual for a small press. Read our full review here.
Polis Books
Polis Books is an independent publisher of fiction and nonfiction, founded in 2013. Their focus is on publishing new voices. They are a technologically driven company. They publish print and digital books. Read our full review here.
Stairway Press
Stairway Press publishes and markets literary books in a variety of genres including science, science fiction, short stories, political essays, literary thrillers and adventure books. They are not interested in young adult or children books. Their main focus is quality writing. Although a number of the books I looked at I would not describe as literary, even in the context of genre. Read our full review here.
Talos Press
Talos Press, an imprint of the independent publisher Skyhorse, accepts unagented submissions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They have good distribution. Read our full review here.
Tell-Tale Publishing
Tell-Tale Publishing is a small press founded in 2009. They seem to focus primarily on eBooks but also they have print options (largely print on demand). They publish six imprints which include Dahlia (romance, and various romance subgenres), Stargazer (fantasy, steampunk), Nightshade (horror), Casablanca (mystery), Thistle (middle school, YA, new adult), and Deja Vu (reprints for all genres). Read our full review here.
Literary Wanderlust
Literary Wanderlist is a Denver based independent publisher. They were founded in 2014 and they publish print and digital books. They publish a wide range of books, from chick lit to short story collections. You can get a feel for what they publish here. They do not publish books aimed at children. Read our full review here.
Bio:
Emily Harstone is the pen name of an author whose work has been published internationally by a number of respected journals. She is a professional submissions adviser and spends much of her time researching manuscript publishers. You can follow her on Facebook here.
